Abstract Thursday. : : ICM

Anybody who has ever met with us on Zoom will have seen this picture which hangs on the wall behind our dining table. For the Intentional Camera Movement abstract challenge I chose it as my subject largely because of the colors. I have always wanted to learn how to do this and spent quite awhile, first with my phone and then with my trusty little Leica. The phone burst method produced hundreds of pictures, mostly in perfect focus. I've never had the patience to practice with the camera off Auto but I figured I was never going to get a result without going to  manual settings and a slow shutter speed, so I experimented. I like this result because the birds in the tree (see extra) now look like they are flying...without actually looking like birds....

Somehow I learn more by experimentation than I do by trying to follow instructions. Sometimes this gets me into big trouble which is why technology and I are not friends. I'm hopeless with owners' manuals, other than the sometimes amusingly creative translations from another language, often done by someone not entirely conversant with English.  IKEA avoids this pitfall by describing how to assemble even the most complicated pieces of furniture in pictograms. Dana does very well  with this method as long as she lines up all the relevant bits and pieces on the floor in the same orientation as the instructions.

Apple seems to have eliminated  instructions altogether, along with such 'design flaws' as built in camera chip readers and even USB ports. The computer arrives in a sleek box whose lid has been designed to be opened in a counterintuitive manner using both hands and take exactly seven seconds to open, but the device itself cannot even be started without the purchase of extra thingys that have the right size slot.

Instructions are now apparently contained within the computer but even If I manage to find the ones I need, they usually don't produce anything useful, probably because they assume a higher level of competence in the user. Mostly I have no idea how to even begin to learn something new. Those more competent than I, my grandson for example, can usually solve problems, but even they are rarely able to explain how they did it.

But I digress. I thank Ingeborg for the challenge that got me started experimenting with my camera. My goal is to master Photoshop one day, but I'd better learn how to use my camera first.